Parlay voo fransay? If not, you may be having a helluva time pronouncing many common watch terms. That’s because French isn’t just the language of lovemaking, it’s also the language of watchmaking. Here’s a pronunciation guide for some hard-to-say watch terms (two of them, “tachymeter” and “telemeter” aren’t French, but they’re so often mispronounced they may as well be).
anglage
ahn GLAHZH (the “ge” at the end is pronounced like the “Zs’s” in “Zsa Zsa Gabor”)
carrée
care AY
chablon
sha BLOHN (The “OHN” is pronounced with a nasal sound for which there is no exact equivalent in English. The “N” is not pronounced fully.)
chaton
sha TOHN (The “TOHN” is pronounced with a nasal sound for which there is no exact equivalent in English. The “N” is not pronounced fully.)
chronometer
kruh NOM ih ter
Contrôle officiel des Suisse Chronomètres
kon TROLE oh fish ee ELLE day SWEESE kro no MET
côtes de Genève
KOTE duh je NEV
dauphine
doe FEEN
ébauche
ay BOSHE
feuille
foy
foudroyante
foo droy AHNT
fusée
fyu ZAY
guilloché
gee (hard “g”) oh SHAY
ligne
LEEHN ye (The “ye” is cut off so quickly that it is almost inaudible.)
manufacture (as in “Patek Philippe is a manufacture.”)
man u fak TUHRE
monopoussoir
mah no poo SWAHR
perlage
pur LAHZH (See “anglage” above.)
Poinçon de Genève
pwan SOHN duh je NEV (The “pwan” is pronounced with a nasal sound that has no precise equivalent in English. The “n” at the end of the syllable is not pronounced completely.)
quantième perpétuel
KAHNT ee em per PEH tyoo ELLE
rattrapante
rah trah PONT
remontoir
ruh mon TWAHR
repassage
ray pah SAHZH (See “anglage” above.)
réserve de marche
ruh ZERV duh MARSH
sonnerie
sohn ur EE
tachymeter
tak IH muh ter
telemeter
tel EM ih ter
tourbillon
TOUR bee ohn
